Watch Out There Are Thieves About – And They Fancy Your Watch

A Thief Who Mistakenly Thinks He Is Romeo 

Which narrative would you buy – the first is the story put forward by the defendant: leaving poverty behind him in North Africa he makes a mistake and tries his hand in the Casino. Losing several hundred euros he flees into the fresh air to lick his wounds and chances on a lady who smiles at him encouragingly. He follows her but his attempts to seal a liaison outside her apartment leads to a slapped face. Nursing his rejection he happens upon another lady, and the encounter leads to a similar outcome; his contention is she was a prostitute. And he finishes the night somehow in a scuffle with a man on the promenade where in the process he manages to come away with the gentleman’s very expensive prize watch. It was all non-deliberate according to him. Or would you buy the second narrative put forward by the prosecution. The culprit aggressively harasses two women in succession, both of whom are forced to slap or sharply rebuke him to keep him at bay. Then he targets an expensive item to steal and robs a gentleman physically pushing the man to the ground in the process. If you leaned toward the second narrative and thought him guilty you then would not be surprised to discover on reading his file that he had a history of offenses for theft, drugs, violence and forgery. In which case a guilty verdict by the Court and a sentence of 6 months in jail would also not come as a surprise, nor the hefty fine. 

A Clever Thief in the Guise of a Gentleman 

And now a refined gentleman robber it would seem – with, apropos with being a gentleman, a refined technique and a specialized niche – robbing wealthy clients of luxurious Spas. His technique includes gaining entry to Spas with forged entry cards permitting him access. His perfected craft is to prise open the lockers – which are normally situated in the changing rooms. This delivers him a haul of expensive watches and cash. Just one victim with an expensive watch and a wallet full of cash will do. Little chance of there being cameras in changing rooms but Monaco detectives have techniques to counter these upscale thieves. The combination of outside cameras and fingerprints led them on an international trail to identify a well-known gentleman thief and issue an arrest warrant. Meanwhile the Court on the evidence would sentence him to 6 months jail and approve a 10.000 euro claim for reimbursement of a stolen watch and cash.